Splintered Fate (19 page)

“
But we are not here to speak of
Valdor.”

“
If you are not here to hurt me
what do you want?”

The corner of the Shade’s lip
turned up in a dangerous smirk. “Do you believe in fate,
child?”

This woman seemed to be all over the place
with her comments and questions. Making it difficult for Lana to
string together a point of her being here, in this odd place the
Shade called a dream.

Lana shrugged. “I think our
actions determine what happens, and our actions will not be
determined by fate.”

“
But say your father was fated to
die.”

Lana went ridged.

The Shade continued as if she hadn’t noticed,
“No matter what he did he would perish, his actions only altered
the way the inevitable was to happen.”

“
Stop playing games with me.” Lana
spoke between clenched teeth. Her father’s death was a sore
subject, something that she could not help but feel partially
responsible for.

In an instant, the Shades yellow
eyes were an inch from Lana’s face. Her hand wrested on the blade
of Lana’s sword with the strength of a stonewall, locking the sword
in place. Her black gown flowed around her as whips of shadows
flowed out from the seams.

“
Listen, child, I am not playing
games.” She said with an edge. Her voice, a warning.

Suddenly Lana was standing alone
as the Shade took her place farther away from her. The woman moved
like a fleeting shadow. Lana looked at the Shade’s hand, where the
she had gripped her sword, not a single cut.

“
Are you saying my father was
fated to die? That it was not my fault?” Her voice
wavered.

“
I am not here about Valdor. He
knew his fate.” Just like that Lana’s hopes for an answers were
ripped away. She stared at the woman, wondering what exactly that
meant. Had her father known he was going to die? She wanted to ask
more, but the Shade said she was not here to talk about
him.

For a moment the two of them seemed to just
watch each other. The Shade constantly appeared to be moving,
lazily running a hand down the length of her braid, moving from one
foot to another.

Releasing an exasperated breath,
Lana broke the silence. “Okay so what’s my fate then.” She asked,
deciding to play along, trying to end whatever this game was and be
sent back to reality.

“
That is the question isn’t it?”
The Shade responded, her eyes widening ever so slightly, her lips
curved up into a secret of a smile.

“
You mean I don’t have one?”
Lana’s eyes narrowed. None of this was making any sense.

“
Oh you do, its just… how can I
explain… splintered.”

“
Splintered? What’s that
mean?”

“
The normal Madonian or Rami has a
solid fate. I can see it as a solid line, a bright glow. That
doesn’t mean I can tell everything that will happen for him or her,
but I can see its path, more or less. You, however, have a path
unlike any other, a splintered fate of sorts. It is not one strong
line but more of a line with wisps breaking off of it and
cracks.”

“
Okay, so?” Lana didn’t know what
to make of it. If she were to believe in this fate nonsenses, then
what did it mean for her? That she had no true fate? That she was
free to make choices which would lead her down different paths,
like she always assumed herself to be? Had her father believed in
this fate business? He had never mentioned it to her if he had, but
apparently he hadn’t mentioned a few things to her.

“
So. Something is heading here, I
can feel it, I know it to be true. I believe that you may be able
to alter the fate of the Lands.”

“
But you said fate could not be
altered?”

“
Yes, but you are different. We
all have a fate and it usually never changes. Only when those who
are the closest to us can at times alter our fate, but ever so
lightly. Think of it as pebbles in a pool. Normally we are all
evenly spaced apart to where if we drop a pebble the waves from our
pebble never reach the next. Only in rare occasions when two
pebbles are close they may influence one another. Well, your pebble
is larger than most. Those closest to you, their fate begins to
splinter as well.”

Lana stared at the Shade, confused
as to what this all meant and the reasoning behind it. So her fate
was somehow contagious? “Why are you telling me this?”

“
You should know. The choices you
make are important.”

“
This makes no sense. I am a no
one special, no special powers. Yes, I am a Madonian council member
but I do not have much influence, apart from the Selvirian lands,
nor have I done anything great.”

“
Perhaps you
haven’t done anything great,
yet
, but you are a council leader.
And your bloodlines are strong. You must stop speaking this
way.”

“
I now come from a family of one,
me. Everyone else is gone. There are no great bloodlines. I am no
more special then the next council member.”

“
Ah, you know so very little.” The
Shade hissed, throwing out a hand in front of her in what seemed to
be frustration.

“
Why are you here?”

“
I am helping myself. I told you.
I feel it, something is coming. I see an end and you are the only
thing that may be able to help stray from that.”

Lana looked at the ground. A
Shade, something most didn’t believe to be real, and those who did
believe lived in fear of the creature. Something so powerful and
dangerous was telling Lana that she was important. Lana wondered if
she had fallen asleep on horseback and slid off, hitting her head,
sending her to the dream. It must have been just part of her
subconscious.

“
You know where I can be
found?”

Lana shook her head,
“no.”

The shade looked longingly towards
the horizon, across the distant grass fields before turning back to
Lana.

“
I apologize, going back will not
be pleasant.”

Going back? Wasn’t the shade going to tell her
where to find her? Lana looked at the woman in
confusion.

Suddenly the Shade stood an inch
from Lana with her hand forcefully shoving Lana back. She fell into
an unexpected pool of water that had appeared from nowhere, with no
way out. Trapped in the water, unable to breath Lana began
panicking. She was suffocating. Spastically her hands and feet
flailed, attempting to get to the surface, but there was
none.

With a feeling of free-fall, Lana gasped for
air as she sat straight up.

Donn knelt down beside her, holding out a cup
to her.

“
Bad dream.” It was not a
question. He held out a cup. “This is valerian root tea. It will
help calm you.”

Hard quick breaths escaped her
while Lana looked around at the familiar woods. Her sweat-licked
skin glistened from the dying ambers of the fire. Ardin lay right
beside her as the Shade told her he was. She wondered if that was
an awful dream or true.

“
Why did you not wake me?” She
asked Donn. If he knew she was having a bad dream long enough for
him to make her tea, he should have woken her. Ardin stirred next
to Lana at the sound of her voice.

“
It was not the kind of dream one
could be woken from.”

Lana eyed Donn suspiciously,
before taking the tea, wondering what he might know of her too real
of a dream. Her eyes followed Donn as he moved to a near by tree
and sat. She stared at him a moment while holding the tea in both
hands. He was so old, with his white hair and weathered face, but
he seemed also to be wise and mysterious. He always appeared to
know things.

“
What do you know of The Shade?”
Lana asked, deciding to pick Donn’s brain. She took a small sip of
the tea, finding the warmth of the cup in her cold fingers
soothing.

“
Not much.” He replied, staring at
the ambers of the fire in thought, before continuing. “They are not
from here, not really anyway. These lands have done something to
them, making them what they are now. Usually they are only found if
they want to be, interested only in serving their own interest.
Some have killed our kind, but to what end I do not know. They are
not kind, nor are they usually evil, but I would not like to be
involved with them.”

“
Seems like you know more than
most… Where do they come from?”

“
Don’t know.”

“
Then how do you know they are not
from here?”

“
Why the sudden
interest?”

“
You really have
no idea?” Lana stared at him, waiting for him to answer. His
words,
it was not the kind of dream one
could be woken from,
resonating in her
mind. He knew, somehow he knew what kind of a dream she had been
in.

The corner of his lip turned up ever so
slightly. “Your dream.”

“
The Shade came to me in my
dream,” Lana confirmed Donn’s suspicions.

“
What was the point?”

“
The point?”

“
Shade’s do not normally enter the
minds and dreams of Madonians or Rami. It is not easy to do,
especially if there is not a connection between the Shade and the
being already. There must have been a purpose to it.”

“
She said some things about my
fate.”

Donn sat silent.

“
We have had a connection before,
she met me when I was a child.”

“
Friend of the families?” Donn
raised a bushy white eyebrow.

“
No, I had never seen her before.
Not that I remember anyway. My father met with her after my mother
passed and I went with him. At least that’s what the Shade told me,
I have no memory of it.”

Donn nodded and asked no more
questions nor did Lana want to share any more with him. Somehow the
conversation she had with the Shade seemed personal, and even
though she liked Donn, it wasn’t something she wanted to share. At
least not until she figured out more of what it all
meant.

Is there
more?
A gentle voice entered Lana’s mind.
She turned to look at the large wolf beside her. His eyes were
peering up at her from the ground.

S
he told me I had a splintered fate.
That she could not see one path but many and that those around me
are affected by it too. She said something horrible is
coming.

Lana went on to tell Ardin all
that happened in her dream. He listened and discussed with her what
it might mean. They talked to each other until she finished her tea
and the sun’s rays shone over the horizon. Once the distant sun was
high enough for her to feel its warmth at her back, Lana got up.
She got everyone up and moving. They were heading towards the lost
city of Alogrin, and she had no time to waist.

The rest of the day went by
uneventfully.

Lana and Kaiden set up a schedule
to train together. After the threat of Garin and the unexpected
visit from the Shade, Lana more than ever wanted to better be able
to defend herself and those she loved. She wanted to be a strong
leader and warrior. She wanted to not have to ever be saved by
another again. Self-reliant, that’s what she would have to become,
and the sooner the better.

Chapter

Ten

Every day at sunrise and sunset
Lana and Kaiden would practice their fighting and defense skills.
To Kaiden’s surprise Lana was not bad to begin with. He assumed she
must have learned after they left Ucu since while they were there
she had almost no skills. As a kid he would always be able to trip
her or sneak up on her, maneuver around her. Now it was more of a
challenge.

Lana advanced quickly, eventually
using a sword she created with her own energy for their practice.
She liked not having to rely on a weapon and being able to better
use the one that she created. Soon the forming of a sword began to
feel almost natural to her.

On days they felt particularly tired, Kaiden
began teaching Lana how to better throw knives. With time she was
able to throw the daggers she created a farther distance before
they fell to dust.

This became both Lana and Kaidens
favorite part of the day. It gave them a chance to be together
without any outside pressures or thoughts. Nothing mattered but
whatever the task was in that moment. It was so easy to be around
him, the way he was able to pull smiles from her, making her laugh.
It was like magic. Never was he unkind or impatient with her when
she messed up.

Ardin enjoyed watching them, every
now and then when Lana tired he would play fight with Kaiden, being
careful not to actually harm him. Lana would watch them, run around
together. Kaiden would throw out lightning fire. Ardin would dodge,
deflect, or shield himself from it, even he began learning a thing
or two.

During one of Donn’s stops at a
nearby town he brought back some hemp string that Kaiden had
requested. Kaiden used it to fashion a bow out of a long thin
curved rod Alex had created and he began teaching the boy archery.
Lana watched as slowly Alex began to enjoy the gifts he was given
as a Madonian. He even began joining Lana and Kaiden during their
routine practices and practiced his archery shot while Ardin and
Nila hunted. This became their routine, travel by day, practicing
combat whenever they were able to.